242 ZAMBEZIAN ZOOLOGY 



of the basins of the rivers, they leave the animal 

 kingdom behind, if we except a few types to whose 

 habits and mode of life a higher altitude is, for some 

 reason, in each case essential. Taken as a whole, 

 therefore, there is not much to be said for the hill 

 country. Its depressing stillness, undisturbed, save 

 at long intervals, by any living form, somewhat 

 detracts from its rather vague beauties. Of course, 

 with certain migratory families such as the elephant 

 and others, which have their own times and seasons 

 for visiting well-remembered parts of the country, 

 either for the enjoyment of certain fruits or for 

 other purposes, high or low elevations are alike 

 indifferent. They come and go with remarkable 

 regularity, and appear to be fully conscious of the 

 significance of the seasons of seed-time and harvest ; 

 but taking the great mass of the families repre- 

 sented, they are found as a rule in the lower-lying 

 plains. 



I do not consider that the mammalian portion of 

 the fauna of Portuguese Zambezia displays any very 

 striking distinctive features, any more than does its 

 avi-fauna, whilst any pecuharities induced by purely 

 local conditions are of so slight a nature that few, if 

 any, have been hitherto observed. The principal 

 pecuharity would appear to connect itself with the 

 fact that unaccountable breaks occur in regard to 

 certain forms of birds and beasts found both to the 

 north and south which here are wholly absent. Of 

 these, some of the most striking examples are the 

 Oryx, still existing in certain parts of British South 

 Africa and in Somaliland, as also that curious form 

 the Aard-wolf, of which, in Zambezia, 1 under- 



